Our View: We can learn from Paterno

Thursday

Jan 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMJan 26, 2012 at 5:58 PM

The three-day period of public mourning for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno concludes today with a memorial service at the school’s basketball arena. In a testament to the impact the legendary coach had on the lives of so many, the 10,000 tickets to today’s memorial that were reserved for the public were snatched up Tuesday in seven minutes.

The three-day period of public mourning for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno concludes today with a memorial service at the school’s basketball arena. In a testament to the impact the legendary coach had on the lives of so many, the 10,000 tickets to today’s memorial that were reserved for the public were snatched up Tuesday in seven minutes.

Paterno, the winningest college football coach in history, was buried Wednesday in a private service at the request of his family. He died Sunday from lung cancer.

Paterno was a highly regarded and deeply respected individual, and not just because of his winning record and national championships on the field, but for the leadership and moral character he exhibited and instilled in others off the field. He was a generous and giving man, honored in many ways for his years of philanthropic and charitable work.

But he was also human, a man with flaws, whose good works were cast under a shadow from the sex abuse scandal that ripped at the core of his beloved university and football program, tarnishing his reputation in the process.

In his only interview after being dismissed, Paterno acknowledged that he could have, should have and wished that he had done more when he first learned of the allegations of sexual misconduct by his longtime assistant coach.

His own failings

We don’t doubt the sincerity of those words, nor do we disagree with them. At that moment in time, he failed to live up to the very moral standard of excellence that he himself established.

Paterno’s — JoePa, as he was affectionately known — successes on and off the field and the positive influence he had on so many should not go unnoticed or be forgotten, but neither should he be viewed as an unfortunate victim of another’s despicable acts.

He was a victim of his own failings — sad but true.

And hopefully, because of his stature, we can all learn from that, which we would like to believe is exactly what he would have wanted.